Some of the stinkiest reporting from the past year

Progressive Democrats launched an unexpected attack on a Congressional spending bill, leaving some pundits complaining once more about nasty Beltway polarization. But legislators were trying to do something substantive: Stop an attempt to roll back an important part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. Journalist David Dayen will join us to explain what was at stake.

Also this week: It was two years ago that 10 first graders and 6 adults were killed by a troubled young man with an assault rifle. Media were transfixed by the disaster at Sandy Hook Elementary School, but did it affect the way they report on gun control? We'll talk about guns and the press with Ladd Everitt, communications director at the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

This week on CounterSpin: It's hard to think of a time when a free press is more necessary than when the public needs to know about crimes committed in our name. So the release of a Senate report on CIA torture is a test for US media. We'll talk about the report and the media response with Baher Azmy, legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Also this week: Ashton Carter will likely be the next Secretary of Defense. Press coverage tells us he's a Rhodes Scholar, a physicist, and an 'uber wonk.' But else should we know about him, and what does his selection mean for US military policy? Author and military analyst Mel Goodman will join us to discuss that.

Networks grant CIA time to spin report

The December 9 release of the executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on CIA torture prompted substantial media coverage. But the network newscasts seemed to be guided by the need to apply something like an "equal time" rule for the torturers.

What critics are missing about Rolling Stone's account of a shocking gang rape at the University of Virginia; and a report on the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal, India, a crime that killed thousands that is far from over.

This week on CounterSpin: Obama's executive action on immigration has rightwing Republicans calling for impeachment, or at least censure, or at least defunding of any agencies involved in implementing it. So does that mean it's good? We'll hear from media maker and organizer Maegan Ortiz on what media's overwhelmingly inside the beltway framing leaves out.

Also this week: Fracking is often portrayed in the corporate media as many steps in the right direction: Energy independence, job creation, not to mention homeowners striking it rich. But a new investigation in In These Times magazine shows that poverty and drilling go hand in hand. We'll talk to journalist Hannah Guzik about environmental racism and the fight to find out the public health risks associated with fracking.